About us
We're a brand beyond description
History of the Empire
It all started back in 1994 with a pencil drawing of Jimi Hendrix that my brother created. We had some experience with screen printing at home, but getting that drawing onto a T-shirt was going to be a little more challenging.
I brought a photocopy of the drawing to my high school Graphic Arts class, where my teacher generously allowed me to use the school’s screen printing equipment after hours. We printed 20 black T-shirts with the Hendrix drawing in gold ink. We sold 19 of them, and I still have the original one today.
Around that same time, I attended my first Grateful Dead show and discovered the world of parking lot T-shirts. I loved the creativity behind designs that combined song titles, lyrics, and pop culture logos into clever parodies. Having grown up collecting Garbage Pail Kids and Wacky Packages, these shirts were right up my alley. They brought together everything I loved about music, art, humor, and pop culture.
Rebuilding the Empire
More than 30 years later, I’m still a Star Wars fan, a Deadhead, a Phishhead, and now a dad. My appreciation for a clever T-shirt hasn’t changed much.
Every design you see on Empire Shirts Back starts with an idea of my own. Most of those ideas come to me while driving, usually stuck in traffic with plenty of time for my mind to wander. Others are sparked by conversations with friends or family, when someone says something that suddenly makes me think, “That would make a great T-shirt.” You never really know when inspiration will strike, but once an idea gets into my head, I can’t help imagining how it might look on a shirt.
Empire Shirts Back is my way of bringing those ideas to life and sharing a little of that creativity, nostalgia, and humor with others.
Whether you’re a longtime fan, a fellow collector, or just someone who appreciates a good parody, I hope you’ll find a design that connects with you, a friend, or someone in your family.
We’re just getting started, with plenty more designs to come as we continue rebuilding the Empire.
May the shirts be with you.